Lively CNY celebration in Sabah, Sarawak

In SABAH, besides hosting open house, the Chinese community also visited temples as part of its Chinese New Year rituals and customs.

People took the opportunity of the long holiday to visit tourist attractions such as Kundasang which is located at the foot of Mount Kinabalu and Gaya Street which is famous for its people's market every Sunday.

Bernama checks found that people who visited public places still adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP) to curb COVID-19 including using face masks and disinfectants even though the SOP has been relaxed.

For Haniza Md Ani, 39, who is of Malay, Kadazan and Chinese descent, the celebration of the festival in Sabah is lively, peaceful and harmonious because it is celebrated by multi-ethnic and multi-racial society.

In SARAWAK, the long holiday also enabled family members to return home to celebrate the CNY with their loved ones.

For Lum Chi Hong, 37, this year's celebration was more meaningly because his immediate family members including his father who works in Singapore, were able to return to Sarawak after not being able to do so two years ago due to the cross-border restrictions.

"This year, the Chinese New Year celebration is more lively, all family members far and near can gather together to welcome it," he told Bernama today.

Teo Teck Wei, 38, said the worry about COVID-19 is still there, but knowing that the situation has improved from the past two years makes celebrating the festival this time to be much more meaningful.

For Chong Koh Lee, 39, she was happy that everything has returned to normal.